The three women who travelled on the train that day and who have testified in the past week have all, in very different ways, made poor witnesses for the prosecution. If Mr Taylor gets off because of them, the setback to the war on blood diamonds, and the atrocities associated with it, will be too awful to contemplate.

8.34am:Taylor's defence lawyer Courtenay Griffiths starts today's proceedings by continuing to ask White about who was present at the dinner in Mandela's house. White says she sat next to the Liberian defence minister during the dinner and that Charles Taylor was also on the table.

Are you sure about the seating arrangements? she is asked. "I suggest you are totally wrong" about the seating plan, Griffiths says. "I haven't made it up," White says.

8.43am:White admits that she was wrong to say that Mandela's wife Graca Machel was not at the dinner, in a statement to the court in May. Griffiths again accuses White of "making it up".

He says it is fabrication to suggest that Campbell sat next to the Taylor at the dinner and that they were seen "flirting" together.

The president of the court Julia Sebutinde intervenes to asks why Campbell was so friendly with Taylor after being warned to stay away from him by Machel.

Griffiths accuses White of telling a "blatant lie". White stands by her story.

He asked repeatedly whether White heard Taylor say he was going to give diamonds to Campbell.

"I didn't hear the words," White admits after an intervention from Sebutinde. But White says she saw Taylor agree that he was going to send diamonds. "He nodded. I don't recall the words. I did not make it up," she said.

8.56am:Sebutinde again intervenes to asked about the body language of Campbell and Taylor during the dinner and whether they were leaning forwards or back. She says it is difficult to understand "geographically".

Sebutinde asks White to answer questions more directly after she sounds vague over the arrangements for delivering the diamonds to Campbell.

9.03am:Charles Taylor continues to listen attentively from the back of the court, as White gets increasingly unnerved by the cross examination. She admits she did not hear arrangements for delivering the diamonds during dinner. She also says she could not be sure who Campbell was texting on the phone when she assumed she was communicating with Taylor about the diamonds.

"You didn't see the text messages," Sebutinde asks. White says she assumed Campbell was communicating about diamonds because Campbell "was telling me they [the men delivering the diamonds] are near".

9.10am:White says that Taylor's minister of defence discussed arrangements for picking up the diamonds in Johannesburg and then them to Campbell.

Griffiths says that in 1997 there were no mobile phones in Liberia and that Taylor and his staff did not have mobiles at that time. "My client instructs me that he was not in possession of a mobile phone," Griffiths says.

Somebody was using a mobile phone from Taylor's team, White insists.

9.21am:Griffiths challenges White on why the men with the diamonds threw stones at her window before delivering the gift. White says it was a "lucky guess" to pick her window at the guesthouse. "They yelled we've got a gift for Miss Campbell," White says.

She had not seen the two men before, White says. "How were they to know that you were Naomi Campbell's agent?" she is asked. "I don't know" says White who continues to sound flakey.

Why did they have to throw stones, if they had already sent a text? she is asked. "I don't know," White says.

9.29am:Griffiths points out the inconsistency between Campbell and White's testimony about how the diamonds were delivered. Campbell said the men came to her door and that White was not there. "I was there," she insists. They only got into the guesthouse because I let them in, White says.

Griffiths challenges White on the logistics of the delivery. He points out that it is a four-hour round trip from Pretoria to Johannesburg which would mean they couldn't have been at the guesthouse until around 2am. White says it was around 1am.

9.37am:White says she has no recollection of having breakfast with Mia Farrow. (Campbell claimed that either White or Farrow suggested the diamonds came from Taylor over breakfast). White says she can't remember Campbell appearing at breakfast to tell the story of how the diamonds were delivered.

"I don't recall breakfast at all," White says.

9.45am:White says Campbell had three or four text messages or phonecalls from someone regarding the delivery of the diamonds. They did not say they had come from Charles Taylor when they arrived, White says.

Campbell later told Ratcliffe that the diamonds came from Taylor. That's a lie, says Griffiths.

"It's not a lie", she replies. Griffiths again accuses White of being motivated by her dispute with Campbell. "Your account is a complete pack of lies and you have made it up in order to assist in your lawsuit with Miss Campbell," he says. "I have no further questions", he sits.

"It's totally the truth, it has nothing whatsoever to do with my business argument with Naomi Campbell. This is not about money it about a very serious matter and I am telling the truth," White says.

9.55am:Brenda Hollis QC for the prosecution re-examines White by asking her more about her statement to the court.

White says: "Miss Campbell was given a gift of diamonds from a president. Quite frankly any woman who'd been given diamonds from anyone would tell sombody. It was very exciting."

White reiterates that Ratcliffe was reluctant to receive the diamonds from Campbell.

White points out that it is not her Facebook page and that she doesn't like Facebook.

Hollis points out that White does not comment on the page and that didn't instruct any of her staff to do so.

10.20am:Why did you come forward? Hollis asks.

White replies: "It is quite an amazing story. When I was told that Charles Taylor was in the Hague at the war crimes trial, I realised it was very serious, and the blood diamond issue had a big bearing on the case. It was my duty to tell my story. I haven't lied and it is a true story."

Hollis says she has no further questions.

10.24am:Julia Sebutinde (left), the president of the court, asks White for clarification on details about how the diamonds were delivered.

"Did they [the men with the diamonds] tell you they were from the Charles Taylor?", she asks. White says again she does not recall. Sebutinde expresses surprise that the men did not discuss who sent them during the 15 minutes they spent at the guesthouse.

Sebutinde also asks about discrepancies between Campbell and White's stories on the details of the stones and how they arrived.

White says the stones arrived in scruffy paper and that she assumed Campbell later placed them in a pouch. The next day Campbell gave the stones to Ractliffe in a pouch.

After two follow up questions from Hollis and Griffiths White is thanked for her evidence. Sebutinde wishes her a safe journey home.

The court takes a mid-morning break.

10.37am:Here are the main points from Carole White's evidence.

• White said Naomi Campbell had been excited at the prospect of receiving diamonds from Charles Taylor after "flirting" with him over dinner. She described the details of how the diamonds were delivered after Campbell was in mobile phone contact with who White assumed was either Taylor or his staff. •Taylor's lawyer repeatedly accused White of lying and claimed she was motivated by a separate contractual dispute with Campbell. White had a hazy memory of the details after being challenged by both Taylor's lawyer and the presiding judge.•White said she was motivated by a duty to tell the story. "I realised it was very serious and the blood diamond issue had a big bearing on the case... it is a true story," she said.

11.14am:The next witness due to appear is Issa Hassan Sesay, a former leader of the Revolutionary United Front in Sierra Leone, who was convicted last year by the court on various counts of war crimes.

Sesay insists that Taylor is innocent and that RUF fighters have been trying to implicate Taylor.

11.37am:The webfeed from the trial has resumed. The court is discussing the timetable for the rest of the case. Griffiths says the defence expects to call another seven witnesses after Sesay and that it will take four weeks to hear their evidence. Hollis says the prosecution also needs another four weeks on top of that.

Sebutinde therefore reckons the defence will be able to conclude its case by 12 November.

If it takes that long the defence will have lasted a year and four months, Hollis points out. She urges the tribunal to set an earlier date for completing the defence's case.

11.55am:Sebutinde and her judges go off for another break to consider whether they should impose a cut off point for the defence's case.

While the legal discussions continue we'll take a break too. Thanks for your comments. For more on the background to the case see our pages on blood diamonds and Charles Taylor.